SOUND
OF SILENCE
If you want to say that you’ve
heard everything in the progressive metal genre, if you want to be aware
of what’s going on and say that you listened to one of the greatest bands
of this idiom then you HAVE to listen to Sound Of Silence…and then the
term progressive takes another dimension…
1. FIRST OF ALL POINT OUT THE MOST
IMPORTANT MOMENTS OF THE BAND’S HISTORY AND INTRODUCE YOURSELVES TO THE
READERS…
Thank you George for your interest
and support. Well, since 1989 when we began (this trip) as a band, the
most important thing we have succeeded so far is the fact that after so
many years we carry on. As you can see, it’s pretty difficult for this
story to last given that we don’t make a living out of Sound Of Silence,
and the only thing keeping us “alive” is that we are music cranks! An important
moment for the band was the release of “Unanswered Questions”. The fact
that we gave many promo copies back then, and many live performances following
that showed that many people liked that demo. The most brilliant moment
for me personally took place to a party organized by Metal Hammer Magazine
in 1994 in which we performed live “Laughing In The Hiding Bush” along
with Bruce Dickinson. Playing with a LEGEND as him on the same stage was
an outstanding experience. Apart from that, we participated in a Metal
Hammer compilation CD named “Hammer Holocaust 1” with the song titled “Wasting
Soul”, and afterwards we somehow put the band in the ice for quite some
time after the departure of some guys from the band. Of course, in the
meantime we were looking for new members and “playing” a little bit, till
John (bass) joined. After him Tasos (guitar) followed, then the proposal
from Sleaszy Rider came, and here we are with “Spiritual Journey”!! The
current Sound Of Silence line-up is: George Kandris (vocals), Tasos Gripeos
(guitars), John Gripeos (bass), Akis Gavalas (drums), and me on the keyboards.
2. THE OPENING TRACK IS A MIXTURE OF
RECORDED CORRESPONDING FROM THE WAR AGAINST IRAQ, FROM THE CONFLICT BETWEEN
PALAISTINE AND ISRAEL AND OTHER FACTS OF THE GLOBAL NEWS. WHAT DO YOU WANT
TO SUGGEST WITH THESE? WHICH IS THE NINTH DAY?
The time when the “Spiritual Journey”
recording sessions took place coincided with the American intrusion in
Iraq. Those days I was making the intro part for the record at home.
Some night during a break I opened my TV to get an idea of the situation
in Iraq. I viewed this whole panic, how Greek channels presented the facts,
how CNN presented the facts. Some moment I bumped into a NET program which
showed how this whole propaganda of American-British invasion in Iraq begun.
I took my mini disk, connected it to my TV and started recording the program
and extracts from CNN. When the recording was finished I connected the
mini disk to my computer and started incorporating extracts of recorded
material into the intro part I was previously working on. That was the
day 9 of the war. I don’t mean to show something in particular, it just
came up. Innocent people suffer from all this bull-shit, something that
has happened before (Twin Towers attack) and probably will continue to
happen.
3. YOUR SONGS SEEM TO HAVE BEEN COMPOSED
BY VARIOUS MEMBERS THAT ARE NO LONGER IN THE BAND. ALL THIS TIME SINCE
1993 WERE SOUND OF SILENCE ACTIVE?
The names of all guys who contributed
to the writing process are mentioned on the CD, next to every song. Everyone
has more or less offered something, otherwise we wouldn’t be Sound Of Silence
but George’s Sound Of Silence or John’s Sound Of Silence, etc. We’ve never
stopped being involved in the band, mostly Akis and I by writing some songs,
but you could say that we “semi-operated” since we were looking for a guitar
and a bass player.
4. DO YOU BELIEVE THAT WITH THIS PARTICIPATION
OF MANY MUSICIANS THE ALBUM HAS MORE VARIETY IN ITS INSPIRATION AND SOUND?
As I told you before, to me, it’s
better when all members of the band participate in the writing process,
so that each of us feels as if he somehow “owns” the song and is always
motivated and willing to offer a lot to the band. Of course we have to
somewhat reach in agreement every time we bring our ideas together, the
so-called “chemistry”. It is exactly like every relationship; tough but
if you succeed…
5. GEORGE KANDRI’S VOCALS ARE FROM
THE MOST CHARACTERISTIC AND SPECIAL IN THE GREEK METAL SCENE. WHAT KIND
OF FEEDBACK DO YOU RECEIVE REGARDING HIS VOICE?
You made him blush! Apart from
his excellent voice, he is the guy who brings all the lyrics, but also
he has to offer musically. Fortunately, he’s not the kind of singer who
waits for an already composed melody and then just sings it, but he brings
ideas that are very helpful in the writing process. What we, the other
members of the band, take from George? Well, you have to come and watch
a show or even better, a rehearsal, in order to understand!
6. THE GUITARS HAVE THE FIRST ROLE
GIVING YOUR SOUND A MORE HEAVY METAL AND GUITAR ORIENTED CHARACTER. WOULD
YOU SAY THAT YOUR MUSIC IS ON ONE HAND PROGRESSIVE BUT AT THE SAME TIME
IT’S ALSO CLOSE TO THE TRADITIONAL METAL PATTERN?
Can you imagine tsamiko without
clarinet?!!! …We are definitely a metal band, we want to sound like that
and Tasos is very helpful in this matter. I think, though, that there is
a balance as far as the role of each one of us is concerned. There are
parts where the guitar leads, other parts where the bass does the same,
as well as the keyboards or the drums. Simply, there are no exaggerations,
it comes out spontaneously.
7. ONE PROBLEM THAT ALMOST ALL THE
GREEK BANDS FACE IS REGARDING THE PRODUCTION. IT SEEMS THAT FRAGILE SOUND
STUDIOS HAVE STARTED SOLVING THIS PROBLEM. YOUR PRODUCTION IS VERY GOOD!!!
Fragile Sound Studio is one of
the few, if not the only one, studio which works with metal music exclusively.
It has the experience and knows what a metal band needs. But beware of
Babis. I guess you have seen him (the drummer of Fragile Vastness). Once,
Akis dared talk back to him (he told him something about his beard) and,
well, his back still hurts (thanks Babis!)!!!
8. WHERE ARE YOUR LYRICS REFERRING
TO AND WHAT INSPIRES YOU TO WRITE LYRICS?
George is responsible for all the
lyrics. The lyrics do not refer to something particularly. There are songs
that talk about us, humans and their thoughts and worries, such as “Fake”,
“Journey”, “Sailing” and “Wasting Soul”. Others have to do with fiction,
and generally with anything that may concern us.
9. WHICH IS THIS GREAT EXPERIENCE WITH
BRUCE DICKINSON THAT YOU MENTION ABOUT IN THE THANKS LIST?
What happened at the party of Metal
Hammer Magazine is unforgettable to all the guys who participated in the
band back then. It may sound too much, but to us sharing the same stage
with Bruce Dickinson was the experience of a lifetime! He made us sound
totally different. It’s a feeling so indescribable! I watched the reactions
of the crowd, Dickinson’s moves on stage, I listened to his voice, incredible!
10. WHY DID YOU INCLUDE THOSE 2 AMAZING
SONGS FROM YOUR 1993 PROMO LIKE THEY WERE RECORDED BACK THEN AND NOT RE-RECORD
THEM, SO THEY COULD FIT IN WITH THE REST ALBUM’S SOUND? DID YOU WANT TO
SHOW THE BAND’S DEVELOPMENT THIS WAY?
Tolis from Sleaszy Rider Records
suggested that, but we also wanted to pay our tribute to the guys we played
with back then, and also because we wanted people who haven’t listened
to us how we played 10 years before. As you can see, we wanted to keep
the songs untouched, as they were originally recorded. The only problem
was that we had to exclude some new songs from the album; maybe they will
be included in the next album.
11. THE KEYBOARDS HAVE A VERY DISTINCTIVE
AND RIGHT ROLE IN YOUR MUSIC AND FIT LIKE A GLOVE. HOW MUCH ATTENTION DID
SOUND OF SILENCE PAY ON THE KEYBOARDS?
You ask the keyboard man to talk
about the keyboards. I’m glad that you like the end result. Many of the
songs are based on the keyboards, and so as you can hear, they have more
than an accompanying character. We center our attention on the keyboards
just as much we do for the other instruments. Imagine that we perform live;
where do you thing they could possibly hide me?!!!
12. THE COVER ARTWORK AND LAY OUT IN
GENERAL ARE VERY BEAUTIFUL! WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THEM?
John is mostly responsible for
the cover. The rest of us thought about what we wanted for the cover, we
discussed with John, he designed it, we saw that what he made was exactly
what we had in mind, and the rest of it was his job. The only thing in
the sleeve that does not belong to John is the photos, which were taken
by Chris Kissadjekian.
13. WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF WE LIVED IN
A WORLD WITHOUT MUSIC?
What would I do? Headbanging with
the sound of leaves …???!!??eehh?? . I don’t know what I would do. Everything
is music…
14. HAS IT EVER HAPPENED TO YOU TO
DREAM OF A MELODY AND SUDDENLY WHEN YOU WAKE UP TO HAVE FORGOTTEN ALL ABOUT
IT? WHAT DID YOU DO AND WHAT DID YOU FEEL IN THAT CASE?
Just once? What I have done in
order not to forget some melody that instantly comes to my mind (at least
when I’m awake!) is buy a walkman-recorder, like those reporters use, so
that I can record my ideas. Well, the only thing I managed was to forget
the recorder permanently!!!
15. IF YOUR MUSIC WERE AN EMOTION,
WHAT WOULD IT BE? IF IT WERE A PAINTING, WHAT WOULD IT SHOW?
An emotion… I can´t find
only one…, but if it was a painting it would be “Spiritual Journey”.
16.THANK YOU! LEAVE YOUR MESSAGE…
Thanks for the support and the
interview, we hope to see you soon. If you want to get informed about anything
you can visit our web page www.soundofsilence.gr
or get in contact by e-mailing us: [email protected]
Enjoy the silence!
George
“Volt” Tassis
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